Friday, August 14, 2009

Today is Emmanuelle Béart's 46th birthday. Here she is to your left earlier this summer with another Gallic great Isabelle Huppert. Huppert is still an arthouse draw in the states but it seems like it's been ages since Béart made it to our screens in any significant way. There's been a teensy run here and there (Strayed, The Witnesses) but the last film that won any real attention was 8 Women (2002) also starring Huppert... and Catherine Deneuve and Fanny Ardant and Ludivine Sagnier. Mon dieu, je l'aime!

The last time I remember hearing other Americans talk about Béart was in college in the early to mid90s when Béart had that critically acclaimed run of Un Couer en Hiver (Cesar nom), L'Enfer, A French Woman and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (Cesar nomination) but international stardom is a tough thing to maintain for anyone, no matter how beautiful or talented. Exceedingly rare are the Hupperts and Deneuves who can hold on to it with a steel grip all their lives.

Béart often gets wet in photoshoots, non?

She's not French but look at the career of Franka Potente? How the hell did she not stay as famous as she was in the late 90s after Run Lola Run? She was just as riveting to watch in The Princess and the Warrior even if the film wasn't as good and she more than held her own in The Bourne Identity. Makes you wonder what will become of Gael Garcia Bernal, Audrey Tatou, Marion Cotillard in ten years time. Hasn't Zhang Ziyi essentially disappeared already?

Béart first won my heart as skinny dipping Manon, the youthful goddess of Manon of the Spring. That movie made me bawl. I remember being greatly confused that Jean de Florette (the preface) and Manon (the conclusion) weren't nominated at the Oscars. That epic two-parter had to make due with Globe and BAFTA attention -- though I knew nothing of the other awards back then so the honors were lost on me. I was so obsessed with Jean/Manon that I even bought the soundtrack and used to sing along with the theme song phonetically. What was I singing about? I didn't know but assuming it was a hymn to Béart was good enough for me.

Here is the original trailer to Manon and a recent French cel phone commercial (creepy or funny?) starring the famous beauty.

Where would you rank Béart in the pantheon of French goddesses? And which young French actress are you obsessed with? I mean, besides Ludivine Sagnier who I'll assume you love? If not, don't tell me otherwise!

Devos is actually my favourite Emmannuelle and has been for the better part of this decade. But this isn't to say anything against Beart. Beart is lovely and moody and compelling and perennially naked as ever (do you think she just unhooks the bra soon as she signs a contract? I've yet to see a Beart film where her puppies don't turn in a gratuitous appearance. Even in an 80s Aids drama about gay male lovers, she finds a way to whip 'em out. Applaud this woman!)But through the entirety of Arnaud Desplechin's output as well as Read My Lips and her oh-so-charming bit part in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Devos has entered and repeatedly risen within my personal pantheon. I now look forward to her appearance in films even more intensely than I do to Huppert's or Deneuve's or Adjani's.Speaking of Adjani - there's another staggering, freakishly talented from a young age, ageless goddess that's all but disappeared from international screens.

I second the Adjani love. Two Oscar nods and then nothing..."The Witnesses" was actually awesome, too bad it didn't get big in the States.As for my current French obsession, I know she doesn't really count...but I'm hooked on everything Kristin Scott Thomas is doing in the language of Moliere.

I'd have to say I'm obsessed with Clémence Poésy right now (or rather, I WAS, when In Bruges came out over a year ago). I suppose she'll continue her role as Fleur in the Harry Potter gauntlet in the next few years. Hopefully, they'll find something for her to do seeing as how they completely marginalized her and her future husband, Bill, in the last movie.

She's amazing. I obviously love her in La belle noiseuse, an epic masterpiece, but she's possibly even better in Rivette's lesser-known later film with her, The Story of Marie and Julien. It's an utterly mysterious, strangely charming film, very quiet and eerie. It's something of a ghost story, with Beart as a very entrancing ghost.

Speaking of two of my favorite French actresses, apparently the Criterion Collection is set to have a November release of A Christmas Tale (Deneuve + Devos = heaven). It isn't posted yet on their site so don't get your hopes too high, but I have heard from other sources it is

In terms of younger actresses, my heart goes out to Chiara Mastroianni. Now, she's not quite on the level of Devos, Adjani, Huppert, or even Beart quite yet, but I feel comfortable in predicting that she'll get there. She's got such a light sadness surrounding her (Love Songs, A Christmas Tale being the obvious examples). Anne Consigny from the same film was defiantly intriguing.

I was glad to see Y Kant Goran Rite mention Devos. Read My Lips is so awesome and that's largely due to her sensational work (2002 was nuttsily awesome for actresses). Kings and Queen... also terrific.

Isabelle Carerre was wonderful in PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC SPACES, but so was virtually everyone.

Valeri Bruni-Tedeschi is awesomely ageless and sublimely brilliant. How she sketches out her character in TIME TO LEAVE is something marvelous to behold.

And while she's not a professional actress yet, I think Rachel Regulier's work in THE CLASS is absolutely amazing (she's Koumba). She doesn't even have an imdb page but I hope she gets cast regularly in upcoming French films.

Anderson... i sometimes think Béart's trips into Hollywood cinema killed off interest. just not as good in them as in the french stuff (which is usually the case with actors -- better in their original tongue. see also: Penelope Cruz)

JL ... i don't really understand Seigner either. But Deneuve is in my top 10 of all time which, in no particular order, are:

Also, I concur that very soon something great might become of the spawn of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. She's already given one sublime performance in A Christmas Tale. In fact, that movie (like most of Desplechin's) was loaded with sublime performances by female French actresses and sublimeness in general.

Sophie Marceau always captures me completely every time I see a performance of hers. I also love Binoche, Huppert, Delpy, and Fanny Ardant.

Like Dimi said, Clemence Poesy is the young French actress who I want to see more of. I couldn't believe the actress in "In Bruges" was the same one who'd played Fleur in Harry Potter. She's so exquisitely beautiful and yet full of energy and surprises.

I'd say the French actress of the moment though is Charlotte Gainsbourg. And deservedly so.